#exaniteheart

ooc; Hilarity is always a great reason!  I rolled 31. Surprise Kiss for this one.

As Perseus glanced down at the file Mithridates offered him, his gaze caught sight of his own name in the stationed colonel’s messy scribbles. His gaze flickered to search the man’s golden eyes. “Where did you acquire this?” he asked, and as his voice broke, he felt mortification stir within his thoughts. Perseus drew himself to his full height, as if by doing so Mithridates would not notice his slip of emotion, yet he knew by Mithridates’s pleased smirk that he had.

"We are both lowborn commissioned officers, are we not?" When Mithridates spoke the word lowborn, his voice gilded the word with pride, as though it were not the curse Perseus knew it was. Mithridates extended his hand toward Perseus, his fingers curling to reveal his palm turned upward, a gesture of extended peace. "We must work together, else we might perish beneath the weight of their low expectations for us."

Perseus allowed himself only the briefest of glances, an indulgence his professionalism barely allowed. Soft silks flowed off the curves of Mithridates’s hips, the fabric nursing the floor beside long, black strapped heels. His own feet shifted in his steel boots, the contrast between their chosen shoes representative of the time they spent on the field, locked in desperate combat, because Mithridates served inside the fort as a requisitions expert.

A warm hand slid against his cheek, before Mithridates patted it lightly, a condescending yet almost fond gesture. “You must work on your subtlety, Captain,” he said, his voice patronizing. “Such a man of action you are, yet you make everything so obvious.”

As Perseus accepted the file from Mithridates, he flickered his gaze toward the collection of papers, the shift hiding his expression until he could school it back into professionalism. His fingers tapped against the manilla folder, his fingertips brushing against his name, before he cleared his throat once. “Regardless, little do you know how much this favor means to me. My gratitude is yours, Commissioner.”

———

Against his lips he felt Mithridates’s mouth curve in a small smile, the other man’s gesture seeping with a self-satisfaction that gave Perseus courage. Though he knew it reckless, Perseus slid his arm around the man’s slender waist. His hand rose to glide through the ends of Mithridates’s smooth hair, before he rested it between the man’s shoulder blades. The kiss lasted mere moments, but when Perseus withdrew, his heart echoed soundly in his thoughts, its beat as swift as if he were on the field.

Oh absolutely.  ABSOLUTELY.

Valkurius is nothing if not arrogant.  He has shown his face strategically here or there when doing some of his dirty murdering business as a “Yes it’s me” or “I’m still alive, come get me” challenge.  While he plays it safe, he also tempts.

Family. Family above all.

From a very early age Isabella was told a simple thing: “We protect our own”. She’s taken this lesson to heart. For family she will go to extraordinary lengths to help them. She will kill to protect them. She will die for them.

While Fredrick might occasionally engage in conversations about politics, the man prefers to stay away from talking about internal and external politics. In his youth, before he settled down, he had stronger opinions about the Dominion, but now Fredrick has mellowed his opinions into more of a “live and let live… far away from me” stance. The man is terrified of everything the Dominion stands for, as far as he knows about them anyway, because he thinks that the Dominion wants to force the Exiles off of Nexus. Fredrick will fight members of the Dominion without much hesitation because of this — even if he normally prefers not to fight aggressive animals, he sees fighting Dominion soldiers as a necessary evil to protect their new home. This opinion is born of fear of the Dominion, and it doesn’t match his philosophical stance on the Exile-Dominion war. In practice Fredrick will attack any Dominion soldier he finds with their guard down, but in theory Fredrick believes that there isn’t that much of a difference between the two groups — and he mostly blames the Dominion leaders for causing the chasm between Exiles and Cassians in the first place.

Daxie

- I keep a box of toys under my papasan for the sake of spontaneity and because I am too small for some of my lovers.

- I often smoke or ingest mild drugs before sleeping to lessen the chance of nightmares.

- Every year, I repeat the names of those under my care I know were lost in the Ravaging.

- I fantasize about Tohr often, and not just sexually.  He makes my chest hurt.

- I get aroused while getting piercings; I think it’s something about the thrill and that split-second of pain.

- I am terrified of being asked to reconnect to the Weave or becoming a Matria again.

- Dancing is a way of distraction, as well as a source of calm.

- I love spending time around Mordesh because they make me feel at home, like I’m not the only broken person in the universe.

- I enjoy sex because it feels like validation I cannot get elsewhere, and it allows me to be close to people—and to forget if only briefly that I’m worth something to someone.

- I want to hurt people for what they have done to others, and the frightening thing is I think I would enjoy it.

Valkurius

- Although I do not mind scars on my body, I am particular about there being no marks on my face.

- Trimming my beard and shaving any stubble are a morning ritual.  No one else has done these things for me since I was on Cassus—at least not while I have been physically capable and/or unrestrained.

- I will never call myself an Exile, and I will never stop calling myself a Cassian.  You cannot take my history from me.

- While staying with the Dominion would benefit them, there is a small part of me that hopes to see my children with the Exiles.

- Monthly, I re-evaluate what causes me fear.  When I stop fearing everything, I know my time is near.

- I have never felt love in the romantic sense.  I do not understand it, and I am honestly frightened of feeling it—and someone feeling it for me.

- The Mordesh are a favorite among the Exiles because they are as close I will get to the culture and education of Cassians without interacting with Cassians.

- One of the things I miss most about Cassus is the availability of fine, fresh loose leaf teas.

- There are times I wake from sharp dreams and believe for just a few moments that I am still a Dominion citizen.

- There are very few I would dare to call friends, although I never would say so openly for fear of endangering them.

Avestrus

- I am constantly in study of new journals and writings about the Void and Void manipulation.

- I am frightened of the idea of reverting to who I was before.

- I go through constant retouching of my subsurface runic tattooing in order to keep myself at my top of Void manipulation.

- I take immeasurable pleasure in watching the born Highborn crumble in their ineptitude, especially before my superiority.

- I take pains to insure time and time again that all those who had a hand in my change are now dead.

- I take great pleasure in causing others pain. This pleasure is not only sexually, although there are times the lines are crossed.

- The person who knows me best—and in a way not at all—is the very one I pay to play bodyguard and co-conspirator.

- I have posed as a member of COGs in order to secretly cause mayhem and gain the trust of those who might otherwise be distrustful.

- I enjoy intimacy in the baths as much, if not more than, in the bedroom.